Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I pre-loved Beatrice’s wedding dress..
Quite a significant event took place last weekend. You may have nearly missed it – and you won’t have been the only one. There was a Royal wedding, yes really. Princess Beatrice – granddaughter of the Queen and cousin of Harry and Wills got married.
It was a very different affair to the ones we are used to. There was no St Paul’s Cathedral, no A-list wedding guests, no horse and carriage (or Aston Martins) and no street parties.
Beatrice got wed during a worldwide pandemic in a low-key ceremony in a small church in Windsor. The only guests we saw, or recognised, were the Queen and Prince Phillip.
Even her dad didn’t make an appearance (but that was for the best given the circumstances).
It was very much a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it event– or at least it was until we saw what – and who – the bride wore. While Kate donned a spectacular gown by Alexander McQueen and Meghan enlisted the experts at Givenchy for her modern creation, Beatrice chose a name closer to home – her granny.
As she peeped out of the church doors, we fell instantly in love. It wasn’t just a dress fit for a princess, it was a dress fit for a Queen because that’s exactly what it was.
Princess Beatrice – who has the world’s greatest designers at her beck and call – chose to wear a gown the monarch wore in 1962 for a movie premiere.
After all, if your granny is the Queen of England, it’s worth having a rummage in her wardrobe, isn’t it?
B altered it and added puff sleeves, turning it into the ultimate princess dress and she finished the look with the actual tiara Queen Elizabeth wore on her wedding day.
No wonder the reigning monarch had such a big, proud socially-distanced smile on her face. But the fact is, we all did. In this current bizarre situation we are living in, the one thing which has really hit home with us all is just how important family is.
It is obvious Beatrice has a close bond with the Queen and she paid tribute to her in the loveliest way on the most important day of her life.
The tide is also turning on fast fashion and materialism. The vintage and pre-loved wedding trend has been growing in recent years and is set to become huge as our priorities and circumstances change as a result of lockdown.
Kathy Sherry, who owns Dirty Fabulous Vintage in Co Monaghan, has been selling pre-loved occasionwear since 2008 and was delighted at B’s choice of frock. She says: “I thought she looked absolutely beautiful. Straight away I knew the dress she was wearing as I am a big fan of Norman Hartnell who designed it and it is from one of my favourite eras. “Beatrice added the shoulders and sometimes with vintage wedding dresses you do have to adapt them to suit your style as she is probably a different shape than her grandmother was.
“That is something we would see all the time.
“The dress is stunning and of course it would be in pristine condition as it would have been archived – so she was lucky. “With Beatrice wearing the queen’s dress, we will probably now see more demand for dresses from this era. Events like these are good as they drive people to alternatives to modern dresses. “The more people see it the more normalised it becomes which is a good thing because it is a more sustainable way to shop which is what we are about.
“There are so many decades to choose from, you’re not going with what is in fashion at the minute, and vintage dresses are built to last – Beatrice has proven that.”
And even further proof can be found in Dirty Fabulous Vintage’s current range of wedding gowns, some of which I have featured today.